Commonwealth hails Cameroon for attaining the 30 per cent female representation in parliament

Cameroon has been praised by the Commonwealth Secretariat for attaining 30 per cent female representation rate in the National Assembly in line with the Beijing Action Platform. In effect, after the September 30, 2013 twin elections, 55 women were elected into the 180-seat Parliament. This achievement in the strive for gender equality in elected positions explains why Cameroon was chosen as one of the countries with a confirmed record of best practices in the implementation of the Commonwealth Action Platform on Gender Equality for 2005-2015. As part of the mission to evaluate gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment, a team from the Commonwealth Secretariat, headed by Dr. Daniella De Vito, met yesterday, October 8, 2015 in Yaounde with the President of the Electoral Board of Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, Dr. Samuel Fonkam Azu’u. Also in attendance were three Board members, notably, Dr. Cécile Bomba Nkolo, Pierre Roger Efandene Bekono and Prof. Pierre Titi Nwell. During the in-camera meeting, the Commonwealth official urged the institutionalisation of quotas to ensure the attainment of gender parity. 

However, as Dr Fonkam Azu’u explained to the press after the meeting, the requirement of gender equality, which is also recommended by the Africa Union, depends on Cameroon’s legislature which is yet to fix a gender equality quota for elected positions. “As at now, our legislators only require that political parties submit gender-based candidate lists. As an elections management body, we only interprete the law affirmatively, but we cannot do more than that,” he explained. His fears centred on the less enthusiasm from women during revision of voters’ lists, which to him might mar the progress already recorded. ELECAM was also described as a brainchild of the Commonwealth since the latter made its creation one of its key struggles in Cameroon.